Follow the Rio

Duotone Kiteboarding Follow the Rio
Duotone Kiteboarding Camper follow the rio

Zea, Mitch and Rio are currently discovering the Northern Peruvian coast with their Mitsubishi Fuso camper truck and a range of Duotone Kiteboarding gear. Stopping off in Santa Marianita, Ecuador, they had a great few days of solid wind and long sessions in the warm Pacific Ocean. 

One of the highlights of our Ecuador travels in the truck was the primary kiting spot of the Ecuadorian coast, Santa Marianita. Located just south of the larger fishing port city of Manta, Santa Marianita is a little seaside village at the bottom of big desert bluffs facing almost directly north. We announced our arrival at our camping and kiting spot by promptly getting horribly stuck in the sand there. This turned into a two-day removal project due to a combination of bad recovery decisions, a very heavy truck, and a lack of large machinery to pull it out. However, we gained new friends, a good story, and learned lessons – the most important one being not to drive onto deep sand – in the process.

Duotone Kiteboarding Santa Marianita
Duotone Kiteboarding Santa Marianita 2019

With renewed spirits and sore backs from shovelling, we had a some great days of wind - around 25 knots! - and enjoyed long kiting sessions out on the Pacific, with whales spouting and surfacing in the distance. Late summer to fall is mating season for humpback whales off the coast of Ecuador, and we were lucky to able to witness it. The waves were small but fun, and the temperatures perfect: not too hot, but warm enough for no wetsuit! Santa Marianita was one of my favorite places we have kited, not only because of the perfect temperatures, but also the near-empty open ocean, beautiful big beaches, and perfectly steady wind. 

Duotone Kiteboarding News Follow the Rio

Our adventures on the Northern Peruvian coast are only just beginning, and we’ve already gotten a taste of the epic unexplored kitesurfing to be found here. After kiting for a few days in the more crowded surf town of Mancora, we moved south to the desert-ghost-town-hits-the-sea of Lobitos, one of the most strange and beautiful places we’ve ever been to. The area around the small surf town is criss-crossed with dirt roads leading out to point breaks and beautiful vacant beaches where desert dunes hit the sea. It gets windy in the afternoons here most days, and Mitch has already gotten some wave sessions in at completely empty secret beaches. We are looking forward to exploring more potential kiting locations in the days to come. In the meantime, the fun surf break and epic sunsets outside our truck’s door are pretty sweet as well. 

…and so the adventure continues.

To follow along and hear more of our upcoming explorations of the Peruvian coast, you can follow our blog: www.followtherio.com and instagram @followtherio